Rudimentary Strategies in Summation Gatherings and Computer Hacking
by driedflowers0808
Summary: When the janitors mess with Troy's transcript in attempt to make him become a plumber, the Study Group must play murder mystery with them to secure the files containing Troy's transcripts. As of chapter 1, J/A and J/B, but there will probably be other ships.
1. The Third Time This Week

A/N: First story I've written in a while..

* * *

Jeff Winger swore he wouldn't allow himself to be dragged out of an important 'business meeting,' to deal with the problems of the Study Group after the many 'problems,' they claimed they needed him for. However, even though he was in the bowels of the school in an obscure, old, abandoned janitors' closet at three in the morning, at this moment, he didn't mind one bit.

Annie, dressed in a navy blue cocktail dress and pumps, walked over to him slowly. She tilted her head and allowed her wavy hair to fall over her right eye. With a husky whisper, she said, "We should work together on this. I know we both wouldn't mind teaming up with each other...At least, I know I wouldn't."

"Team up?" Jeff smirked and let out a laugh, "You'd like that wouldn't you? You'd like me to help you, but not because you want to team up. How do I know you're not framing me?"

Annie rolled her eyes and broke character, "Jeff! You're not even eligible to win!"

Jeff smirked and said, "I know. I was in character."

Annie smiled and fixed her hair; pushing it behind her ear. She put on her husky voice again and said, "I have something you need." She pulled out a white piece of paper from her cleavage, held it between her middle and index fingers and waved it back and forth.

"So you have a clue," Jeff shrugged. He narrowed his eyes and walked closer to her. He tilted his head and said, "How do I know that you're not just telling me this because you're the one who actually killed Mr. Scrupplebottom? You were his mistress and-"

Annie rolled her eyes again and broke character, "Jeff! Really? The only reason we're playing this is so Troy can graduate from the A/C school and so he wont have to become a plumber!"

"Annie," Jeff broke character, "I'm being a character and trust me, I want Troy to graduate just as much as the next person. That way I don't have to keep coming here for another two years instead of just one year to keep solving everyone's ridiculous problems. I know I said I wouldn't mind, but it's becoming a bit excessive."

She pursed her lips and walked closer to him, so they were inches apart. As she grasped the material of his suit, she lowered her voice to the husky whisper and looked up at him with her eyelashes fluttering, "Do you know what's becoming excessive, Mr. Cruffles?"

"Wh-at?" Jeff asked. His voice rose an octave as he gulped to calm himself from conveying to her his nervousness.

"You denying the heat between us," she slowly whispered. Without breaking eye contact, Annie reached into Jeff's breast pocket and took out a hidden, white piece of paper. "Now I have both clues. What are you going to do about it?"

* * *

**Thirteen Hours Earlier**

A disgruntled Jeff Winger, dressed in a suit and tie, walked into the GCC library.

"Thank God!" Britta ran up to him and grabbed him by the arms.

"What the hell is going on and why did I receive a text message that said, 'Emergency! Come to Grindale Aspap?'" Jeff tilted his head at her.

Britta rolled her eyes, "It was supposed to say, 'Emergency! Come to Greendale ASAP!"

"I'm fully aware of what it was supposed to say," Jeff smirked back at her, "It's just more entertaining for me to read it out loud. Learn to stop texting like a seven year old and then I'll-"

"We don't have time for this!" Britta said, "Something really, like, really bad has happened and Troy is completely screwed."

Jeff sighed, "What happened? This better be serious and more important than you making me come here two days ago because Annie almost got into a fist fight with Annie Kim in the middle of the cafeteria over the credibility of forensics club."

"It is! Listen-"

"Or calling me last week because Troy and Abed tried to emulate T_he Great Gatsby_ and threw a huge party every, single night in the cafeteria, so they could find that girl Troy made out with in the bathroom that one time. They almost destroyed the entire school!"

"It's-"

"Or, again, calling me last week because someone kept stealing donuts from Shirley's Sandwiches and was deemed the Shirley's Sandwich Snatcher- which makes absolutely no sense because donuts were being stolen, not sandwiches- but it just turned out to be Leonard wearing a hoodie and sunglasses and the donuts were really being taken home by Cha-I mean Kevin."

"Just shut up!" Britta looked at her surroundings before pulling Jeff into an empty bookcase isle.

"Never mind about what I said before. This is a perfectly legitimate excuse for me to come here," He tilted his head at her and smirked, "Not the most private place in the world, but I can make it work," he began feeling around at the books behind him, "If we take some of the books out of the mechanical engineering section, you'll have a better grip."

"No, you jag!" Britta rolled her eyes and smacked him on the arm, "And be quiet! they'll hear you."

"I don't want them to hear us, either," Jeff nodded with a serious expression.

"I'm serious," Britta harshly whispered, "Shut up, they're listening!"

"Who will hear me?" Jeff rolled his eyes.

"The janitors," Britta whispered, "They've messed with the Greendale administration files and somehow got all of Troy's A/C credits deleted. If we don't find that file, or someone who can find the file, then Troy is going to have to stay here another two years."

"You can't be serious?" Jeff sighed.

"Dead serious," Britta nodded.

"I can't believe I'm saying this," Jeff shook his head, "but we need to go to the Dean's office, like, right now."

Jeff left the bookcase isle and went into the study room. Annie paced back and forth while Troy and Abed talked in their seats.

"Jeff!" Annie said. She ran over to him and said, "This is a disaster! Troy is going to have to stay here another two years! Do you know how long that means he has to go here for?"

"I don't know? Six years?" Jeff asked with sarcasm. "I passed first grade math, Annie."

He walked past her and towards the study table. He looked at Abed and Troy talking to one another.

"They're filming in Britain," Abed said, pointing one finger in the air.

"Dude," Troy tilted his head at Abed, "We need to go there."

"What the hell are you two talking about?" Jeff interrupted.

"Oh hey, Jeff," Abed deadpanned.

Troy nodded towards him, "Hey."

"We're discussing where they're filming the new _Star Wars_ movie," Abed nodded.

"England," Troy nodded and said, "and the reasoning behind filming it in England. What could this mean for-"

"Do you even care that your transcripts have been lost?" Jeff sighed.

"Oh yeah!" Troy's eyes widened, "We have to, like, fix this! They want me to become a plumber and," he changed to a whisper, "do you know what plumbers have to deal with?"

Jeff rolled his eyes and asked, "What?"

"Poop," Troy winced, "septic systems, sewage, mutant alligators, and Super Mario Brothers' Mustaches."

Abed nodded and said, "Do you have a solution?"

"We need to go to the Dean's office," Jeff said.

"We tried that," Abed said.

"He says he can't find it!" Annie interrupted, "No matter how many times we ask him! He refuses to acknowledge that the system has been messed with!"

"Something about the 'credibility' of the school," Britta crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.

"Well, he hasn't spoken to me yet," Jeff nodded and started to walk out of the Study Room.

The Group followed Jeff down the hallway.

"Jeff, what if the Dean doesn't listen to you?" Annie asked as she scurried behind Jeff with quick steps in attempt to keep up with his long strides.

"Oh, he'll listen," Jeff nodded.

As Jeff turned a corner, Leonard yelled, "What kind of loser comes back to visit a Community College?"

"Shut up, Leonard! I know about you putting bugs in the Salad Bar!" Jeff said before he glided into the Dean's office.

The secretary saw Jeff and the Study Group walking into the office. She stood up and said, "He's not seeing any-"

"He'll see me," Jeff glared at the secretary and opened the door to the Dean's office.

The Dean sat at his desk, dressed in an aviator's uniform as he piloted a remote control plane.

Jeff watched the plane fly by the door and hit it, mid air, down to the floor. "What the hell happened to Troy's transcripts?"

"Jeffrey! Back again? You just can't get enough of me and-"

"No! That is most definitely not the reason I am here!" Jeff said.

"Come on, Dean," Britta crossed her arms, "How'd you let this happen to Troy's transcripts?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean..." the Dean sorted some files in manilla envelopes on his desk and looked away from the Study Group.

Annie walked up to the Dean's desk and slammed her fist down on it, causing some of the papers in the envelopes to fall off the desk.

"Annie!" the Dean cowered in his chair.

She leaned over his desk and rested her hands on the files. Her voice lowered as she asked, "What did the janitors do to Troy's file?"

"I-I don't know!" the Dean said.

Jeff walked up to the Dean's desk and stood behind Annie, "Well, you better find out or..."

"Or what?" the Dean asked.

"Or the GCC Board of Trustees will be receiving a letter explaining how a large portion of the school budget is being spent on costumes," Jeff smirked.

"I already got that covered," the Dean tilted his head at Jeff, "Technically they're property of the Drama Department."

"Well, then," Annie shrugged, "Do you know what would be a real shame?"

"No," the Dean shook his head.

"If they find out how much of the school budget Troy and Abed used when you put them in charge of the dance committee last week," Annie narrowed her eyes at the Dean and allowed her lips to curl into a smirk.

"Now! That was their fault!" the Dean pointed at the Study Group, "If I knew they were trying to emulate _The Great_ _Gatsby_, throw a dance every night of the week, and almost destroy the cafeteria, then I never would have approved th-"

"Oh, but you did," Abed walked over to the desk, "Troy and I got your signature to approve everything." He took out a piece of paper and held it in front of the Dean.

The Dean leaned forward and adjusted his glasses to read the paper. He shook his head. Then he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "So, you've got me," he shrugged, "However, I can truthfully tell you that I have no idea what happened to Troy's transcripts."

"But the janitors know!" Troy said.

"Exactly," Jeff said. He turned to the Dean and said, "We," and pointed back and forth between the Dean and the Study Group, "Are going to have a little chat with the janitors."

* * *

Jeff opened the door to the janitor's closet. The janitors sat calmly around their break table as they played cards.

"Where's Troy's transcript?" Jeff demanded.

"No idea what you're talking about," Jerry the janitor said as he leaned back in his chair.

"Just tell him!" the Dean cried.

"I don't have time for-" Jeff began to say.

"Listen, Jerry," Annie interrupted, "We're not stupid-"

"Not in the least-" Britta interrupted.

"And," Annie began, "we know you have been vying for Troy to quit his calling as the air conditioning messiah and become a plumber-"

"We know you had someone hack into the transcripts and delete all of Troy's classes," Abed said.

Jerry began to laugh, "You guys really think I'm going to admit to-"

"Jerry," Troy shook his head, "We know. Now just admit it. Please, just tell us what happened to my transcripts so I can get back on track at the A/C school."

"Fine," Jerry said, "One condition."

"Anything," Troy said.

"A Murder mystery," Crazy Schmidt nodded.

"Excuse me?" Jeff's forehead crinkled.

"The six of you, in the Study Group, will engage in a game of Murder Mystery with us Janitors. If you can last until daylight tomorrow morning, we'll give you Troy's transcripts back," Jerry said.

"That makes no sense," Jeff said, "Wouldn't that eliminate the six in our study group as possible suspects?"

"We give you detailed background stories, one of you is the murderer and us janitors are the detectives," Schmidt grunted.

"Also," Britta shook her head, "Isn't this completely, like, illegal?" she turned to the Dean, "Dean, are you going to do something about this?"

"Yeah! Do something!" Troy looked at the Dean.

"It's in the bylaws," Schmidt said.

A Janitor handed the Dean a copy of the by-laws.

"What?" Annie began to laugh out of disbelief. She pointed to herself, "I've read the bylaws and there is no way that it says-"

"Right here!" the Dean pointed on the page.

"What?" Annie raced over to the Dean and read over his shoulder. "If something of a student's has technically been 'lost,' and put in said, 'Lost and Found,' by the Janitors, the findee may be challenged by the Janitorial staff to retrieve said item."

"Let me see that!" Jeff snatched the bylaws from the Dean and said frustratingly, "'Findee,' isn't even a word!"

"We'll do it," Abed said.

"What?" everyone said as they looked at Abed.

"We'll do it," Abed nodded.

"Good," Jerry smirked, "The Dean will be the impartial judge and assign you guys with characters. Meet us back here at 5:00," he nodded, "And bring that Sandwich lady with you... and have her bring sandwiches. Schmidt likes roast beef the best."

* * *

A/N: Updates for this story may be slow because for, like, every story I write, it ends up going completely batshit crazy around chapter 4...so I'm going to try really hard to avoid that this time.


	2. Backwards Shirt and Character Backstory

Annie fidgeted in her chair at the Study Room table. She looked down at the navy blue cocktail dress she was wearing and self-consciously folded her arms over her chest. With her arms crossed, she looked down at her watch and sighed. Pushing her brown curls behind her ears, she pursed her lips, "Why does she always have to wait until the last possible minute?"

Ever since Jeff graduated, Britta had taken the role as, 'the late one.' Annie couldn't stand it another minute, as Britta being late from off-campus lunch excursions had started to become quite common.

Britta kept using the same excuse, that the bus schedule was not accommodating. Annie would remind her that she had a car. Britta would go on a rant about fossil fuels.

This conversation had become a weekly ritual.

No one in the group, but Abed, assumed these rants were Britta avoiding the subject of her lunch excursions.

"Jeff's not here either," Troy shrugged. He wore a formal military uniform. The faux medals on his suit rattled together with every movement. He took his hat off and set it on the table.

"We could always play without blondie, I mean Britta," Chang said. He wore a tie with a dress shirt, but no jacket.

"Why is he here?" Shirley asked.

"We need extra people," Troy said, "the more suspects the janitors have, the harder it will be for them to solve the mystery of which one of us is the murderer."

"Then where's Pierce?" Annie asked. She shook her head and sighed, "I feel like we haven't included him in a single thing since he graduated."

"He's been spending a lot of time with Gilbert," Troy said.

"So, we're going to Chuck Cunningham him?" Abed asked, to which no one in the group responded.

"And I'm better than Pierce because my mind is a total blank mystery, with my Changnesia and all," Chang nodded, "You know Changnesia."

"Pierce could barely remember where he lived," Shirley said.

"Where do I live again?" Chang asked. After no one responded, he said with faux realization, "Oh, yeah...the airvents!"

Shirley pulled her scarf around her arms. It draped over her emerald dress. "I would just like to kindly note that I came here a half-hour early, instead of having dinner with my family, so I could-"

"We get it," Abed said. He wore a green tie and a tweed jacket. Wire framed glasses sat on the table in front of him.

"Excuse me, Abed?" Shirley lowered her voice and narrowed her eyes at Abed. He hit a soft spot and Shirley was becoming tired of Abed's meta-commentary. She certainly did not have a character-arc. This was her life, not some television show.

"This character arc of yours-Of you never seeing your family-it's getting old, repetitive even," Abed pointed towards her.

"Getting old?" Shirley rose her voice, "What's getting old is-"

"How Britta has become the late one since I've graduated?" Jeff, dressed in a suit and tie, announced with a smug smile as he glided into the room and took his seat at the head of the Study Table. "I'm sorry, I had a business meeting."

"Your cuff link is undone," Abed said.

Jeff ignored Abed and buttoned his cufflink. He then took out his cellphone from his pocket.

Annie, her arms still crossed, looked at the white watch on her wrist and observed her newly manicured nails. She rolled her eyes, "The janitors are going to be here any minute. Where is she? If it has to do with her taking the bus because of the amount of gas she's used this week driving places, I swear I will-"

"Here!" Britta said, her hair disheveled and her striped sweater on backwards. She panted as she ran into the Study Room and almost tripped over the leg of her chair while she sat down, "Here for Troy!" Her eyes widened as she faked a smile, oblivious to the looks she was getting from the other members of the Study Group.

"Britta," Annie pursed her lips while shaking her head.

"What?" Britta shrugged.

"Why aren't you in costume?" Annie asked with frustration.

"What? Britta asked, "Costumes? No one said anything about costumes." She frantically picked up her phone and started to search through her texts in hopes that she didn't mess up Troy's chances at getting his transcripts back.

"And why is your shirt backwards?" Abed asked as he looked her up and down.

"Crap," Britta sighed and tucked her arms into her sleeves as she turned her shirt around to the front.

"And Jeff's top collar button is-" Abed began to say.

"Britta, where's your costume?" Jeff interrupted as he nonchalantly buttoned the button.

"Costume?" Britta crinkled her forehead, "I swear, no one said anything about a costume."

"This is Greendale, of course there's costumes for this," Jeff shook his head and took out his phone, "Please, don't tell me you thought this would be as simple as playing Dungeons and Dragons."

"Well, you always wear a suit now, so I assumed that-" Britta rolled her eyes.

"You need a costume!" Troy announced.

"I don't think it will be that big of a deal," Britta crossed her arms.

"What's your character?" Shirley asked.

"I'm a-a...hold on-" Britta began looking through her pockets.

"A hold on? Man, why couldn't I be that?" Troy asked.

"You are so unprepared! What the hell were you doing all afternoon?" Annie asked.

"I was-I-was-I-I-I found it!" Britta took a crumpled notecard out of her pocket and squinted at it, "I'm-a-a-a- smudge."

"You get to be a smudge, too?" Troy asked, "Why do people who wont appreciate the best part always get it?"

"I know how you feel," Chang patted Troy on the shoulder.

"Just don't," Troy shook his head at Chang.

Annie shook her head and blurted out, "You can't even read it!"

"The ink smudged from the salad I had for dinner!" Britta defended.

"Give it to me,"Annie held her palm out. Britta handed her the mangled notecard. Annie unfolded it and asked, "What the hell is up with you lately?"

Britta shrugged.

Annie attempted to decipher the writing and rolled her eyes, "You're Emily Lead, a fashion journalist for _Belle Magazine_ and-"

"Wait a sec!" Britta's mouth dropped open. Despite the piles of _Vogue _and _Lucky _occupying her closet, the Prada shoes, and the two-hundred dollar Isabel Marant shirts, she had to protest the conformity that comes along with an occupation that tells the masses what to wear. "A fashion journalist? No way the hell am I-"

"And let me finish," Annie shook her head and sighed again, "and you're trying to get a big scoop, so you'll be taken more seriously for a possible job with a national newspaper. You're twenty-seven and-"

"Like she could pass for twenty-seven," Chang snickered, "am I right?" He hit Troy on the side of his arm, to which Troy narrowed his eyes at Chang.

"_Kevin_? Shut it. You're lucky we're letting you participate," Jeff said as he typed on his cellphone.

Abed tilted his head, "She could pass for twenty-seven," he nodded, "And maybe, just maybe twenty-three, with the right make-up and hair styling."

"Thanks?" Britta crinkled her forehead at Abed. Despite her, 'formal' training as a psych major and her many therapizing sessions with Abed, she still had trouble deducing the difference between Abed's compliments and insults. They were more like compli-sults.

"Britta, you really should get into costume," Annie nodded. She spent two hours getting ready for this; forty-minutes curling her hair, a half-hour deciding on the dress, fifteen on the shoes, and then another twenty-five minutes on her make-up. Annie thought. She prepared. She didn't just galavant in here just under the nose with her shirt on backwards from doing God knows what and with who. Annie's eyes momentarily shifted to Jeff.

"She's right sweetie. I took precious time out of my life, which could have been spent with my children and loving husband, to get ready for-" Shirley, also, took time out of her life. For the third night in a row, Andre had to make dinner for the kids. He only knew how to make pasta.

"And we all want to help Troy," Annie interrupted as she tilted her head at Shirley.

They're right, Jerry might disqualify you if you're not in costume," Troy nodded and gave Britta puppy dog eyes.

"Fine," Britta sighed, "For Troy. I'm going to the costume closet. I'll be right back."

"Hurry, they'll be here any minute," Annie said.

Britta walked out of the room.

"What are everyone else's characters?" Shirley asked.

Jeff carelessly flicked his notecard to the center of the table. "Mr. Cruffles. Business associate of Mr. Scrupplebottom. Age thirty-four. Currently trying to buy out Scrupplebottom's controlling shares in their-whatever-company they have."

"It's an advertising-" Abed began to say.

"Again, I don't care," Jeff said.

"Private Trent Scrupplebottom, son of the dead dude," Troy nodded, "I joined the army to rebel against Scrupplebottom when I was written out of the will."

"I'm Dr. Lawrence Holderfoot," Abed rose one finger up in the air, "Famed mystery author and college professor, who is currently suffering writer's block. I also have a steamy past with Emily Lead."

"Monica Scrupplebottom," Shirley rolled her eyes, "Estranged wife. Still in will. Currently having an affair with the lawyer, Clark Morple-"

"That's me!" Chang said.

"Dear Lord," Shirley shook her head, "Can we switch characters?"

"No!" Troy yelled, "Sorry. We have to play this by the book. Exactly by the book. I cannot become a plumber... It's not my calling."

"Your calling?" Jeff snickered.

"Yeah," Troy nodded.

"Annie," Abed pointed at her, "You never said your character."

"I didn't? What?" Annie began to laugh nervously, "...I think I totally, most definitely did."

"No, you didn't," Abed said.

"Oh, well..." Annie cleared her throat.

"What is it?" Troy asked, "The maid? For some reason I feel like you would be cast as-"

"She's probably the Step-daughter," Chang said, "She'll have this feigned innocence and then- 'surprise,' she did it!"

"I always saw her as a scientist or-" Shirley began.

"I'm the mistress!" Annie blurted out and then calmed herself, "I'm Jessica Flurry, the secretary/mistress, who was sleeping with Scrupplebottom. I was recently written out of the will for reasons that were not stated in my character description. I'm twenty-three years old and the whole thing kind of skeeves me out."

"Well, that explains the dress," Jeff said as he nodded towards Annie.

Annie blushed and smiled shyly, "What about my dress?"

Jeff smiled up from his cellphone and said,"It's-"

"It's my favorite Study Group!" the Dean walked into the room, dressed in a revealing detective costume. He set his hands on Jeff's shoulders, to which Jeff shoo-ed him away.

"If you like us so much, then why are you subjecting us to this ridiculous scheme?" Jeff asked with sarcasm.

"Jeffrey," the Dean shook his head, "Don't do that to me. Don't say those hurtful things to me when you fully know that my hands are tied. I can't break the bylaws. Do you know what would happen if I broke the bylaws?"

"We could easily get my file back?" Troy asked.

"And not participate in this ridiculousness?" Jeff asked without looking up from his phone.

"You could give us three wishes without having to scold us first?" Abed asked, "Because you liking us so much is putting a huge damper in my plans for those three wishes."

"Dean, you picked the characters for us," Shirley said, "Can we switch characters?"

"No, you can't," Schmidt said as he walked into the study room with Jerry, both dressed as detectives.

"When blondie gets here, we'll read the rules," Jerry said.

"Blondie?" the Dean crinkled his forehead.

"Really, Dean?" Jeff rolled his eyes.

"Oh, they mean Britta!" the Dean laughed as he waved his hand.

"Back!" Britta exclaimed as she walked through the Study room. Her hair was pulled up and she wore large, round, black sunglasses. A simple gold chain with a pendant hung around her neck and bracelets on her wrist clanked together. Her lips were a dark red and she wore black pumps.

"Do we need to have that talk about lipstick again?" Chang asked.

Britta rolled her eyes, "Look, I had, like, five minutes and I grabbed the first stuff that I saw that would look like the part. Can we please, just finally start this?"

Jerry pointed at Britta, "Thank you, let's finally start this."

"She's the one who was, like, a half-hour late!" Annie shook her head.

"Annie, will you ever move past my lateness?" Britta asked. She lowered her sunglasses and looked at Annie.

"Never mind," Annie waved her hand at Britta. She rolled her eyes, again, "Just take those stupid sunglasses off, it's, like seven at night."

Britta defended, "It's Spring and me, being the trendsetter that I am, needs to-"

"Are we in character now?" Abed asked. He looked around the table and put on the wire framed glasses that sat on the table in front of him. He turned to Britta and said, with a lower, slightly seductive tone, "Emily Lead, I never thought I would see you walk through a doorway on a warm spring night ever again."

Britta lowered her sunglasses to the tip of her nose and turned to Abed, "What?"

"Can I explain the rules first?" Jerry shook his head.

"Please," Jeff said with indifference as he texted on his phone.

"No cell phones," Crazy Schmidt grunted. He snatched the phone out of Jeff's hand.

"Come on!" Jeff turned around and saw Schmidt give Jeff's phone to the Dean. "No!"

"Now the rest of yers, fess up those phones," Schmidt said.

Everyone else handed their phones to the Dean.

"One or more of you, sitting in this room, is the killer. The only one who knows is the Dean. Clues have been hidden throughout the school, which advance the plot and reveal more information about your characters and the location of other clues. Your job is to find those clues before me and Det. Schmidt, here. You may find out who the killer is before we do, but I warn you, we can be very persuasive, so don't be surprised if you find yourself selling out your friends. There can be more than one killer. If you guys can keep us from naming the killer or killers by morning, then we'll give you Troy's transcripts back."

"Awesome," Jeff said sarcastically.

"Only students and staff are legitimate members of the game," Jerry said.

"Wait," Jeff turned around, "What does that mean?"

"It means you can't win, Winger!" Schmidt said, "You ain't a legitimate member of the game. You can't be the one to figure out the mystery, all alone. You can't give the summation."

"Fine," Jeff shrugged, "No big deal. It wont change the game that much."

"Alright, Dean," Jerry nodded, "You can give them their first clue."


	3. Clues and Cliches

A/N: Thanks for the reviews and follows.

Also, I'm notorious for ship jumping...I have no idea how this will end ship-wise. Read at your own risk and comment on my characterizations, not the shipping. Thanks in advanced.

Also, I've ended fics with Jeff/Annie before...so i'm not 100% biased... and it's only chapter 3. Anything could happen in the next chapter.

* * *

"Here's the clue," the Dean announced as stood in front of the room.

He remained silent for a moment, until Jeff asked with aggravation, "Well, what the hell is it?"

"We don't have all night!" Shirley shook her head, "Especially me, as my children are-"

"We get it," Abed rose his eyebrows at Shirley, to which she responded with narrowed eyes.

"I'll give you a little hint," the Dean's eyes motioned to the pockets of his tan shorts, which matched his detective uniform.

"No," Jeff said.

"Fine," the Dean sighed, "Here's the clue... 'Although seemingly different they're two of a kind/It's their secret they don't want you to find/ for someone is always very near/ forcing them to be together in fear.'"

"Do all of these clues rhyme?" Annie asked as she cringed.

"Why yes, they do," the Dean nodded and smiled in satisfaction, "Pretty clever of me, huh?"

"No, it's just annoying," Jeff sighed.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Britta asked.

"Talk to each other!" Jerry said, "Mingle and such."

"Ooww, this will be great for my Changnesia! I need to practice my social skills. My wife has been very supportive of this!" Chang said excitedly.

"Mingle about what?" Troy asked.

"Your characters," Jerry said.

"My character is boring," Britta said, "and a cliche and she's-"

"Britta, we're all cliches," Jeff said as he rose from his chair.

"Speak for yourself, Winger," Chang commented.

"And I don't know anything about the military," Troy said.

"I say," Abed said as he left his chair, "This is one poorly organized plot! I mean, is there even an explanation for why we're all gathered here?"

"Yeah, just like the plot of the Dean's novel _Time Desk_-I mean Changnesia! What?" Chang laughed nervously.

"What's with Abed being all dramatic?" Shirley asked Annie.

"He's being his character," Annie whispered back.

Abed looked at the Dean, Jerry and Crazy Schmidt, "Well? Why are we all gathered here?"

"Now, Abed, I know you read your character card-" the Dean began.

"Character card?" Abed tilted his head and looked at the Dean confused, "Why would, I, Dr. Lawrence Holderfoot, famed mystery author and college professor, be given a character card and what for? I am not a character, like the protagonists of my novels, I know the difference between reality and fiction."

"Abed, please, calm down," the Dean rolled his eyes.

"You need to call him by his character," Crazy Schmidt said.

"Fine, Dr. Holderfoot, please calm down, we're, here, in the 'residence,' of Mr. Scrupplebottom to read his will," the Dean shook his head, "and An-I mean, Miss Flurry has it. She can read it aloud."

"I do?" Annie crinkled her forehead.

"It's taped under your chair," the Dean sighed.

Annie looked under her chair, "There is no piece of paper here."

"Just as I thought," Jerry said, "Someone must have hidden the will to escape incrimination!"

"Or someone took Troy's transcripts and is blackmailing us into this and there was no piece of paper in the first place," Jeff said.

"Pretty boy Winger, do you want the Dean to have to kick you out of the game?" Schmidt asked.

"Fine," Jeff shook his head, "Then, Mr. Cruffles is going to the other side of the room, so he can sit in peace without being subjected to this stupidity!"

Everyone else watched Jeff walk to the other side of the room and dispersed from the table.

Abed looked at Britta and winked at her before he walked over to Annie and Troy.

Britta rolled her eyes, as she wasn't in the mood to play murder mystery, and walked over to the corner of the room to lean against the wall.

"So," Troy tilted his head at Annie, "If you're the old guy's mistress and I'm his son, does that make you my mother?"

Annie rolled her eyes and sighed, "No, Troy. I think our characters are supposed to be the same age. I think Shirley is supposed to be your mom."

"Why do people always think that?" Troy shook his head.

"Miss Flurry," Abed said, "Did I mention earlier how that dress matches your eyes?"

Annie bit her lip as she smiled, "No, no you didn't."

Shirley walked up to the Dean and grabbed him by the shirt, "Listen," she growled, "There is no way in hell I am staying here without a way for my babies to contact me. So you're gonna find a way to get me a cell phone or I'll take your head and-"

"On it!" the Dean said with a gulp. He whispered, "Meet me in the music room in a half hour and I'll give you your phone back."

Chang walked over to Abed, Annie and Troy. "So, Annie, who are you trying to impress with that dress?" he asked.

Annie sighed and forced a smile, "It was great speaking to you, _Kevin_, but I think I just heard someone call my name." She wasn't in the mood to deal with Chang, especially after she noticed Jeff trying to nonchalantly button his shirt earlier. As she looked over at Jeff, she decided to talk to him. Not specifically about her suspicions, but only because around him, she could be herself and not some sensuous mistress character. She walked away, over to Jeff, who was looking out the Study Room window through the blinds.

Chang said, "Oh, well that makes sense." He turned to Abed, "So, mystery-author-guy-"

"Sorry, I must leave too," Abed looked over at Britta, "There is an old flame I must, once again, ignite." He walked away with his hands folded behind his back.

Chang looked over at Troy, "What character is he supposed to be?"

Troy tilted his head back in forth as he thought deeply, "I'd say, it's thirty percent Frasier from _Frasier_, twenty percent Frasier from _Cheers_, twenty percent Castle from _Castle_- but that's a rough guess- ten percent Sherlock Holmes, two percent Tobias Funke and something else I can't figure out yet."

"You are guys are insane," Chang deadpanned before walking away.

Jeff nodded to Annie as she walked over to him. He cupped her shoulder with his hand and said, "Good, I was hoping you would come over."

Annie tried hard to prevent her lips from curling into a beaming smile, "Really?" She knew buying this dress would be worth it.

"Yeah," Jeff nodded, "See, I figure this- You and I are the only ones here who can solve this mystery without us all having to stay here all night. I figure we can solve it by eleven, that way we all wont waste our Friday and-"

Annie crossed her arms and tried to not sigh, or show her disappointment, "I think Shirley is also capable, so why don't you-"

"Listen, Annie," he pulled her into the corner and put his arm around her shoulder, "Look around for a sec. What do you see?"

Annie stopped looking at Jeff's hand cupping her shoulder and allowed her eyes to scan the room,"I see our friends who want to help Troy and-"

"'Want to,' that's the key phrase. See, ten bucks that Shirley has to go home because she literally cant stay away from her kids like this-"

"She lasted during paintball-twice-"

"'Lasted twice,' another key phrase. Those two times her livelihood was at stake. Now it's not. Anyway, Troy won't be able to solve it without Abed and Abed is being a character. With Abed being a character, he's gonna want this to last as long as possible and hold some stupid, dramatic summation scene as the sun rises. He's also not going to help Troy because Troy's character is supposed to be a love interest for Britta's-"

"I think he's supposed to be one of mine. I mean-"

"Annie, it doesn't matter at the moment. The point is, is that Abed is not going to work together with Troy. Chang is, well Chang and Britta is useless. Look at her now," Jeff gestured to Britta, "She's just standing against the wall and refuses to take her sunglasses off."

"Fine," Annie sighed, "maybe you're right."

Britta stood, bored, as she leaned against the wall with her sunglasses still on. She crossed her arms and sighed.

Abed smiled and walked over to her. He strutted around in a circle as he stared at her and contemplated the entire situation, "Miss Lead, the last time I saw you, it was Oberlin College, five years-"

"Abed- I'm not really in the mood," she said as her eyes became distracted, almost panicked. She focused on the others conversing behind Abed while she looked over his shoulder. Abed was an obstacle, shrouding her from seeing what she cared about slightly more than this game. Yes, more, but only slightly more. The, "slightly," was important to Britta because, although she liked to think of herself as selfless and being friends with Troy was important to her, sometimes more crucial things were happening in the exact moment. Sometimes certain instances took precedent over others; especially instances such as the one she was observing.

Abed looked behind him and witnessed Jeff talking to Annie as she flipped her hair and laughed. "Miss Lead, if I'm not mistaken, you seem to be begrudging over the interaction between Miss Flurry and Mr. Cruffles."

Britta glared at him and tilted her head. "No, I'm not."

"You're not?" Abed asked. He tilted his head in acknowledgement.

"No," Britta gulped as her gaze shifted away from Abed and back over to Jeff and Annie. "Why would I be jealous over that?"

"My thoughts exactly," Abed rose his eyebrows at her. He walked closer to her and gently grasped her hand in his. Britta looked down at her hand intertwined in his and then up at Abed. She was confused, as she didn't really read her character card and she wasn't really feeling this atmosphere.

"Abed, um, this is-"

"Miss Lead, I've been waiting five years for this moment. When I left you in front of the fountain at your graduation from Oberlin, five years ago, I knew-"

"Abed, what's going on?"

He broke character and asked, "You really didn't read your character card, did you?"

"No, I was busy this afternoon...with...stuff"

Abed looked back at the rest of the party and then back at Britta. He leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "I think I know how we can help Troy." He backed away and rose his eyebrows at her. He put on his character again and said with a serious voice, loud enough for everyone in the Study Room to hear, "Miss Lead, words cannot express how I feel about our past relationship." He rose his eyebrows at her.

Britta tilted her head and looked at Abed with suspicion. Her eyes lit up when she realized what he was doing; a diversion. "It was for the best."

"You broke my heart!" he leaned in again to whisper in her ear, "We need to leave this room."

Britta nodded. She looked at Abed with her lips clenched and said, "I no longer can stand to see the sight of you. The memories haunt me and-and I fear I may do something I regret." She turned her head away from Abed with a dramatic tilt. "I must go."

As he conversed with Annie, Jeff's eyes widened when he saw Britta about to leave the Study Room. He walked past Annie, mid sentence, and grasped Britta's arm before she could leave. "Where are you going?" He asked.

"I'm bored," She smiled as her eyes shifted towards Abed, "Abed and I are going to look for clues, which is more than what you're presently doing."

"I'm helping!" Jeff pointed towards himself with an angry whisper.

"Yeah, ogling Annie in that dress of her's sure is helping Troy," Britta whispered back.

"I wasn't ogling. We were talking strategy and it's more than what you were doing. You were just standing over there in a corner."

"I was observing."

"Well, so was I."

"Obviously," Britta rolled her eyes and sighed. "You were observing something, Jeff. Let's just leave it at that." She turned around and left the study room.

"Miss Lead! Wait! We need to talk!" Abed called after Britta and left the Study Room.

Jeff shook his head and turned around. Everyone stared at him. He straightened his tie and thought about what to say. Explanations for the behavior between him and Britta were starting to wear thin. They hadn't been as careful as last time. Last time consisted of meetings, not dates, at terrible diners and seedy bars. Now, he ate a real steak and she had some flimsy salad at a nice restaurant. This time, it started out casual, but only because it was weird not seeing each other every day. Britta was easy to vent to. She knew when to judge, but she also knew when it was appropriate to rag on other people.

He looked at the six pair of suspicious eyes still staring at him and realized that they were starting to catch on; late "meetings," Britta's trips to that, "really great vegetarian restaurant across town," (which really did not exist), and her, "bus trips," were starting to sound ridiculous.

To veer the attention away from himself, he looked at Shirley. He took slow, concise steps over to her, "Shir-I mean, Mrs. Scrupplebottom, the clue is about you."

* * *

"Abed, where are we going?" Britta asked as she followed Abed down the hallway.

"To save Troy. We're going to find his files," Abed said.

"Shouldn't we just solve the mystery?"

"I already know who did it," Abed nodded.

Britta froze in the hallway, "What?"

Abed turned around and shrugged, "I know who did it."

"From one clue?" Britta looked at him with suspicion.

"Yeah," Abed nodded.

"Then why are we here and not divulging the murderer to everyone, so I can change out of these uncomfortable clothes and not waste my Friday?" Britta asked angrily.

"Didn't you hear the deal?"

"Um dah-doy, of course I did. It said figure out who the murderer is and-"

"They said we had to last till dawn," Abed tilted his head at her, "If we hold a summation gathering now, we technically don't last till dawn." He continued down the hallway.

Britta began to blink rapidly, "Wow, um, okay." She started to follow him, "Wait! What if one of the others figure it out before dawn?"

"We find the clue that pieces everything together before they do, all while we discover who has the flash-drive with Troy's transcripts on it- or at least a copy of it." He turned to her and grasped both her arms, "There's a reason I took you with me."

"And why is that?" Britta asked as her eyes shifted towards Abed's hands clutched to her arms.

"Because I needed to speak with you alone."

"Again, why is that?" Britta asked.

"You loved me once...You could love me again."

"Dammit, Abed!" Britta shook Abed's grip off and asked with frustration, "You're in character, aren't you?"

"Miss Lead," Abed tilted his head at her, "Do you want to solve this mystery or not?"

"Wouldn't Abed be more adept to solving this than Lawrence?" Britta asked with her teeth clenched together.

"At this present moment, Lawrence is more adept for handling the situation," Abed nodded and started to walk down the hallway again.

* * *

"Wait here a minute," Schmidt said, "Yer sure?"

"Why of course," Jeff tilted his head at the janitors and began to walk in a circle. "Two of a kind could only mean once thing-"

"Which Abed probably knows," Troy sighed.

"Hey, you all need to be your characters!" Jerry said.

"Can I please continue?" Jeff asked, "Because nothing concerns me more than the last will and testament of my business partner who treated me like his own son."

"You're getting into character?" Chang laughed.

"Characters?" Jeff smirked, "The only characters in this room are the ones inside that manuscript Dr. Holderfoot was working on earlier."

"You mean his notebook?" Shirley asked.

"No, Mrs. Sugarbottom-" Jeff said.

"It's Scrupplebottom, Jeff," Annie corrected.

"That's Mr. Cruffles," Jeff smirked back.

Annie smiled because as much as she didn't want to actually admit it, she wanted everyone to get into character. To Annie, this wasn't the worst way to spend her Friday. "Okay, Mr. Cruffles, explain."

"Cha-I mean, Kev- I mean, Ken- What the hell is your name?" Jeff asked.

"Morple-" Chang responded.

"Morple, Mr. Scrupplebottom's lawyer, and Mrs. Scrupplebottom were having an affair," Jeff announced.

"So," Shirley rose her eyebrows at him, "That's old news. As are my husband's not-so-secret trysts with-" She pointed to Annie, "her at our mountain cabin in Aspen!"

Jerry turned to the Dean and whispered, "Hey, good job. This is a pretty decent mystery. Ten times better then the ones Schmidt writes. They end up being pretty predictable."

"Thanks?" the Dean replied like a question. He didn't write this. In fact, he had no idea what was going on."

Annie rolled her eyes and walked over to Shirley, "Please, he was way done with you before he was with me."

"You don't know-"

"Oh, I know everything," Annie smirked, "I was his secretary after all and let's just say a certain someone would want that will lost."

"And why is that, Miss Flurry?" Jeff smirked at Annie.

"That's only for me to know," Annie walked up to Jeff and grasped his tie. Her voice lowered to a husky whisper. She looked up at him and fluttered her eyelashes, "Even if he is dead, I have a certain obligation to Mr. Scrupplebottom as his secretary. I would think you of all people would understand, Mr. Cruffles." She smirked, let go of his tie and walked out of the study room.

"Holy-when did Annie get sexy like that?" Troy asked with wide eyes.

* * *

"Abed," Britta whispered as she still followed Abed down the hallway, "Where are we going?"

He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close, so their faces were inches apart, "It's Lawrence and you'll see." He grasped her hand and gently pulled her down the hallway.

He led her to the lost and found closet. Abed opened the door and led her into the room.

"Holy Shit..." Britta looked around at all the objects with wide eyes.

Abed began to scan the shelves, "Here," he said. He grabbed a white piece of paper off the shelf, read it and said, "Just what I thought."

"What?" Britta asked. Abed handed her the clue. She read it aloud, "Miss Emily Lead may love the weed, but the only thing that clouds her judgement is on her face, clear to read-This doesn't even rhyme correctly! Seriously, what the absolute-"

"Don't you see?" Abed broke character, "The Dean's clues are based on what's happening in real life-"

"Abed, this clue is gibberish-" Britta said with a serious expression.

"Is it, Britta?"

Britta suggestively walked up to Abed and slowly took off his wired glasses. She smirked and asked, "What else could it possibly mean... Lawrence?"

"Nice try. I've broken character for a reason," Abed said, "Don't avoid the question."

"You are so damn confusing,"she pursed her lips and crossed her arms, "I thought we were supposed to be helping Troy, not prying into my private, personal life- emphasis on private."

"What are you so afraid of?"

"What is anyone afraid of?"

"Loneliness," Abed nodded.

"You think so?" she whispered. After a pause, she asked, "So, why are we here?"

"To see who the last person to sign into lost and found was." Abed walked over to the sign in sheet and pointed at the name written on the bottom of the list, "Just as I thought."

Britta looked over Abed's shoulder and asked, "Neil?"

Abed nodded, "He's a computer science major."

* * *

Jeff followed Annie into the cafeteria.

"Miss Flurry, I wasn't aware that Mr. Scrupplebottom told you all his intimate secrets," Jeff said with a smug laugh.

"I was improvising," Annie said.

"Whatever you say," Jeff said with a smile. He walked over to a soda machine and put in a dollar.

"I wonder where Abed and Britta went. I didn't see any trace of them in the hallways."

"Who cares," Jeff said as he took a sip of the soda he got from the soda machine. He handed the other soda in his hand to Annie, "He's probably making her role-play with him... wait that sounded kind of wrong."

Annie opened the can of soda as she giggled, "You know, I wouldn't put it past Britta though. When he's in character, Abed can get pretty, um," she smiled to herself as she remember a fond memory and in her, 'I Love Butterflies Voice,' she said, "charismatic and mesmerizing and seduc-"

"What do you mean you wouldn't put it past Britta?" Jeff immediately asked as his eyes widened. He began to question whether or not Britta would do something after their little conflict before she left the study room. They never discussed exclusivity. He tried to calm himself by thinking that Britta would never do something which could possibly ruin the group.

Jeff decided she was above that and he was stupid for thinking otherwise.

"Calm down," Annie said slowly. She narrowed her eyes at him as her lips parted. "What's up with you being on edge?"

"On edge?" Jeff cleared his throat as he straightened his tie. He casually leaned against the wall. "I'm not on edge."

Annie finding out about his little secret with Britta would not be good for him. Not at all. Britta would kill him, the sex would stop, the dinners would stop, and the nights he spent at her apartment would stop. However, don't get him wrong, the second best part about going to Britta's was getting some much need time away from the Dean constantly knocking on his door. Jeff was pretty sure that Kramer on_ Seinfeld_ would have been a more preferable neighbor. He didn't care about dinners. He could eat dinner alone or call one of the many numbers in his phone for company. Although, most of them couldn't carry a conversation like Britta could. He looked up from the ground and then at Annie. There were only a few women in his phone who could carry a conversation well and one of them was standing in front of him. "Listen, I'm just really-"

"Winger?" A voice said, which startled Jeff. He flinched and looked behind him. "Dean? What do you want?"

Annie crossed her arms and tilted her head at him. She said sarcastically, "Yeah, you're right. You're not on edge, not in the least...You know what? I'll see you back in the Study Room." She forced a smile and walked out of the cafeteria.

"Annie!" the Dean yelled after her, "Your character isn't sarcastic!" He turned to Jeff and said, "Pssst."

"What?" Jeff folded his arms and sighed.

The Dean began to whisper, "I can tell you who the murderer is-"

"I know. You organized the game-"

"And I can tell you-"

"You're supposed to remain impartial-"

"For a price of-"

"Again, you're supposed to remain-"

"Let's just say we build a door conjoining our-"

Mid sentence, Jeff walked away.

"I was going to say our apartments!" The Dean yelled back. "Imagine the shenanigans we would get into! It would be like _Friends_!"

* * *

A/N: So, everyone just remember that it's the Dean who wrote the clues. The Dean lives next door to Jeff and would be more aware of who frequently visits Jeff's condo. The Dean also has his own opinions on which members of the Study Group he likes the best. So, it may be pretty easy to figure out who the murderer is, but this fic isn't really about the story of murder mystery game. It's about six people who were *forced* to play a murder mystery game.


	4. Lost but Still Not Found

Troy sat on the study table and fiddled with the fake medals attached to his shirt. He sighed and looked around the room. The Dean had left and gone after Jeff. Annie stormed out of the room after the stupid, 'confrontation,' she had with Shirley. Jeff went after Annie. And Abed was, as usual, getting way too into the game and took Britta with him to look for clues. Troy felt somewhat left out and sighed.

Jerry walked over Troy and said, "Trent, I've heard around town that you've been having some issues in the military."

"No," Troy squinted at Jerry. "The military is pretty dope and I, like, am kind of the best at whatever I'm supposed to being doing as a job there..." he lowered his voice to a whisper, "Sorry to break character, but I have no idea what they actually do in the military. My only knowledge comes from _Forrest Gump_ and _Full Metal Jacket_ and it did not look pleasant in _Full Metal Jacket_. Like, for seriously, they pelted a dude with soap."

Jerry tilted his head and said, "Perhaps you should consider becoming a detective, much like myself. It's somewhat similar to the military-"

"No," Troy narrowed his eyes at Jerry, "It's not. An officer in the army has to make strategic decisions. A police officer's job is all about convincing a person to do or say something-they usually didn't-"

"Look," Jerry broke character, "This isn't about the differences between cops and the military and judging from your previous comment, I can tell you dating that blonde girl did a number on your opinions about cops-"

"If this is supposed to be some metaphor for plumbing and air-conditioning, I've told you before, I literally see no difference with the only exception being the amount of poop that plumbers deal with...and that's what makes my decision completely solid."

"Fine," Jerry nodded, "For now, I'll leave you be. I have clues to look for."

Troy watched Jerry walk out of the room. He felt someone tap him on the shoulder. Turning around, he saw Chang.

"Hey, Tro-I mean, Trent?" Chang said.

"What?" Troy sighed.

"We're the only ones left in the room."

"What?" Troy crinkled his forehead and looked around the room, "Where did everyone go?"

"They went to look for clues," Chang said, "... Maybe you and I should-"

Troy sighed, "No, let's just stay here."

"What? Come on," Chang begged, "Everyone else is out there trying to figure out this-"

"And Abed probably already knows who the murderer is."

"You think?" Chang asked.

"Most definitely," Troy nodded, "He's going to stretch this out for the entire night. I wouldn't put it past him hoarding the essential clue so no one else can figure it out."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. He's probably going to make Britta lead the summation gathering or something. That's the only reason I could think of why he took her with him."

* * *

Shirley walked into the music room and was greeted by the Dean.

"Shirley!" the Dean yelled, "I don't think I should-"

"Shh," Shirley hissed. "Now you better give me a phone to call my babies or I will smack you upside the head with one of these French horns."

"Okay, okay. Just calm down," the Dean said. With caution, he took a cell phone out of his pocket.

Shirley grabbed it from his hand and began to dial the phone. She said sweetly, "Thank you, Dean."

* * *

Abed walked up to the Dean's office door and tried to open it. "It's locked," he said.

"Abed, I know you know how to pick a lock," Britta said, "from when I organized the break-in into Alan's office."

"Abed? Who is Abed?" he rose his eyebrows at her while giving her a perplexed head tilt.

Britta rolled her eyes and took out a knife from her purse. She began to pick the lock.

"I knew your rogue journalism skills and rule-breaking attitude would come in handy, Miss Lead," Abed said.

"Why are we doing this, again?" Britta sighed as she successfully opened the door.

Abed looked both ways down the hallway and grabbed Britta's hand to pull her into the administration office. "We need to use a phone, without anyone else seeing us."

"So we can call Neil?" Britta asked.

"Precisely," Abed nodded.

"He wont do it," Britta shook her head.

"I have reasons to think otherwise," Abed said. He began to look around the room and opened the door to the Dean's office.

Britta stayed in the administration office and looked at the secretary's desk. A folded piece of paper sat on it. She walked over, picked it up and observed it. She unfolded the paper and read the writing.

"_Secrets and lies. Ignore his cries. He'll do anything for her. The truth is up for you to infer- _And I thought the other clue was vague," Britta sighed to herself.

Abed walked out of the Dean's office and sat on the secretary's desk. "Another clue?"he asked.

Britta nodded, "Did you talk to Neil?"

"Yes, I did," Abed nodded.

"So what do we do now?"

'We wait."

* * *

As Annie walked back through the hallways, an open door caught her eye. She tilted her head and began to walk towards it. Abed and Britta had to be somewhere around here and she did not want to help Jeff solve this mystery, as she was doing this for Troy and she wanted to solve it right. Maybe she did want to have a summation gathering at dawn. Maybe she wanted to give the summation gathering and throw the fact that she solved the mystery in Jeff's face.

She pushed to door, to fully open it. It creaked as her eyes widened in her amazement of the room before her. Shelves were everywhere, completely full with...stuff.

"I had a feeling Dr. Holderfoot would have gone here," Annie heard Jeff say from behind her back.

Annie rolled her eyes. "And why is that, Mr. Cruffles?" She said as she tried to contain her discontent.

"It's simple..." Jeff walked by her and into the Lost and Found. He turned to face her and said, "Dr. Holderfoot is a mystery author. He knows all the tropes and would realize that an essential clue, in essence, would be...lost and needed to be found."

"So, he's been here?"

"Most likely," Jeff said. He walked into the room and began looking up and down the shelves.

Annie's eyes shifted away from Jeff and onto a shelf where there was a small, open space. Next to the space were big, round, black sunglasses- Britta's sunglasses. "Br-I mean, Emily Lead's sunglasses."

Jeff walked over to Annie and rose his eyebrows at her, "Looks like she finally decided to stop pretending to be so aloof and took them off."

Annie giggled and asked, "How can she see with those stupid things?"

"Well, Br-I mean, Emily has worn sunglasses indoors more times in her life than most people have." He pauses and smiled at her, "You seem on edge."

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"The unnecessary giggle," Jeff said.

Annie rolled her eyes, "There was no unnecessary giggle."

"I think I heard one."

"Well, you didn't," Annie snapped.

"Sorry, for inferring the same exact thing about you as you inferred about me," Jeff said sarcastically.

"What? Being on edge?" Annie shook her head and crossed her arms. She couldn't believe what he was saying and she couldn't understand why he had to be like this. Why couldn't he ever admit to having a small moment of weakness to her? "You _were _on edge. Why? I don't know, but you need to stop being weird like that if you want to solve this stupid mystery and get on with your life or and I quote, 'Not waste your Friday." Annie started to walk out of the closet. She felt Jeff grab her shoulder, so she reluctantly turned around. "What?" she asked.

"Listen," Jeff took in a deep breath, "I didn't mean it like that."

Annie paused as she tried to find the words she needed to use to put Jeff in his place. Her mouth opened slightly, but the thought didn't materialize. After a moment of looking at his guilted and closed lips, his worried and crinkled forehead and his apologetic eyes, she said, "I know, but really Mr. Cruffles... ever since you branched out on your own, starting your own company, all while still being a major stockholder and on the executive board of this one, it seems, to me at least, that we're burdening you because the only times we've been seeing you lately is when something goes wrong in the company."

"I've been kind of busy," Jeff whispered, "with the new company and all."

"But you aren't busy enough to..." Annie trailed off. She was about to crack him and her accusatory question would diminish the groundwork she recently laid. Jeff was about to admit something, she could feel it, but as excited as this made her, she hoped with all her heart that it wasn't the very thing the back of her mind kept telling her.

She hoped the back of her mind was wrong. It had to be. It just had to be.

"To what?" Jeff asked.

"Nothing," Annie answered immediately. "I can't remember." She lied and turned around to fiddle with a gadget on the Lost and Found shelf. It was a weird, silver pen. She took the cap off of the pen and found a note in it. "Hey, look," she turned around and showed Jeff the note.

"What does it say?" Jeff asked.

"_He who has the most to gain will gladly suffer through the pain. But remember success is objective. Try and think from a different perspective." _

"This is ridiculous." Jeff sighed. "The Dean's clues are harder to decipher than_ The Tree of Life_."

"What about you claiming to know the answer to the other one?"Annie asked with a smirk.

"Like, you didn't for a second think that I wasn't bull-shitting just to get everyone else out of the study room and on to figuring the hell out of this stupid mystery?"

"You're just mad that it's going to take a while to figure this thing out," Annie scoffed.

"Look, I want to solve this and not only because I don't want waste my Friday or not spend time with you guys. In fact, I really miss spending everyday with you guys-"

"Really?" Annie asked giddily with a smile.

Jeff resisted from rolling his eyes. He knew the moment he said, 'yes,' Annie would let out a small, shriek of excitement. However, he didn't want to lie, so he said, "Yes."

Annie didn't shriek with excitement because she wasn't being Annie. She was Jessica Flurry. "Ab- I mean, Dr. Holderfoot has been taking it a bit hard."

"He is?" Jeff asked with a smile.

"As has Miss Lead," Annie rose her eyebrows at him.

"I highly doubt that," Jeff said, "An-Miss Flurry, enough of this talk. What we really need to focus on is the mystery. Such as, where the next clue would be."

Annie tilted her head at him and smiled, "Where would the Dean hide a clue?"

Jeff's eyes lit up, "My locker."

"What?" Annie's forehead crinkled, "No! That's not what I meant and it makes no sense."

"Hear me out," Jeff said, "The Dean set up the clues, right. So to find them, we have to think like the Dean-wait...I don't want to go to that place again."

Annie rolled her eyes, "I know. That's why I was going to say that we should look in-"

"My locker."

"No, I was going to say the costume closet in his office," Annie sighed.

"No. That would be too obvious."

"Really?" Annie shook her head.

"Really what?" Jeff asked, oblivious.

"You ask for my help and when I give it, you just completely ignore my suggestion?"

"There's no need to be antsy."

"I'm not being antsy," Annie shook her head, "I'm just trying to solve this stupid mystery so my friend wont have to do something he hates for the rest of his life. And obviously I'm going to have to be the one to do it because Troy cant do it without Abed, Shirley is too distracted about her kids, Abed has committed to the bit to the point of delirium, Britta is useless, and you are completely oblivious!"

"You think you can solve this mystery before me?"

"Um. Yeah," Annie said matter-of-factly.

"I was a lawyer. I know how to decipher clues and put them together to make a convoluted story make sense."

"Well, maybe I don't want to have a _convoluted _story make sense. Maybe I want to find out the truth. Not some fabricated nonsense with just a grain of the truth!"

"Fine, then. If You don't need me," Jeff narrowed his eyes at her, "I'm going to check my locker."

"Fine." Annie crossed her arms at Jeff, "I'm going to the Dean's office. Alone. To solve this mystery. Alone. Before you do."

"Fine," Jeff said as he angrily stared at her.

"Fine," Annie repeated. As she walked by him, she added with sarcasm, "Good luck, Mr. Cruffles"

"Annie! Your character isn't supposed to be sarcastic!" Jeff yelled back at her.

"It's Jessica Flurry!" She replied as she left the Lost and Found, "And she can be as sarcastic as she wants!"


End file.
